In Search of the Goddess
by Darth Mel
Summary: Chapter 4 is up, much to my neglecting...sorry for the delay!
1. The Door

Taylor opened her eyes, glanced at the beeping clock next to her bed, and yawned loudly.  "It's too early…" she muttered to herself, but nonetheless, she threw off her covers and climbed slowly out of bed.  She shoved her feet into her slippers, and yawning once more, left her room.  

            As she headed out into the kitchen in search of food, she saw Keisuke sleeping on the couch again, books and papers on the coffee table in front of him.  Lying in the piles of papers was a red book, Miaka's and a red scroll, Misara's.  Keisuke had been pouring over them for the past few weeks, but what he had learned from them, Taylor could only guess at.  Seeing those scrolls reminded Taylor of her of what had happened, memories she was only too happy to forget.  They were the reason she had stayed in Japan, moved in temporarily with Keisuke, and lied to both her parents about where she was.  Her parents lived in different states, and Taylor would move from one place to the other whenever she felt like it.  She stayed mostly with her father, so she could be with Misara, but she had called him and told him that she had gone to stay with her mother.  And since her mother thought Taylor was with her father and her parents never talked if they could help it, she was safe for the time being.  

            After Misara's disappearance, the warriors of Suzaku were sent back to their own world, stunned and confused.  The rest of them were just as clueless and scared, and Taylor was really starting to miss Misara.  Keisuke was trying to find a way into the book world…at least, that's what he told Taylor when she asked why he hadn't left the couch and his papers.  She saw Miaka and Yui almost daily, but the two friends couldn't think of anything to say to her.  And for some strange reason, Tamahome had turned up in this world, but his name was Taka and he was a college student.  Miaka looked so happy whenever Taylor saw her, and Yui seemed all right, and it all made Taylor wonder why she wasn't feeling fine.  She did miss Misara. But that was only part of it.  The other part?  She didn't know.  

            She dug aimlessly through the refrigerator, pushing the beer aside trying to find some eggs.  After she had cracked the eggs into the pan, she stuck her head out into the living room again.  Keisuke was stirring.  He would wake up soon.  She turned back to the kitchen and took more eggs out of the fridge.  

            As she munched on her breakfast, Keisuke came into the kitchen, looking rumpled and tired.  She pushed his omelet toward him and he ate it with his hands, then headed back to the couch.  Taylor sighed inwardly, finished her omelet and set her dishes in the sink.  

            Later that evening, while she was reading, the phone rang.  She tucked a red curl behind her ear but didn't move from her spot, thinking Keisuke would get it.  After all, if it was a Japanese person, she wouldn't be able to talk to them and it would waste everyone's time.  She was lucky that Keisuke spoke pretty good English.  Tetsuya and Yui weren't too bad either, but Miaka was rather hopeless at it.  Which was all right, since Miaka didn't really pay any attention to anyone but Taka.  Taylor had picked up some of it since she arrived, although she didn't get out much.  But the phone kept ringing.  Annoyed, she got up and grabbed it.  

            "Hello?" She asked, still a little peeved.  She didn't even care if the person on the other end could understand her.  

            "The portal opens at midnight."  A voice said.  

            "What!?" Taylor asked.  Surprised that the voice spoke in English, she hadn't really paid attention to what it said.  

            "At midnight, the portal will open, and you can save your friend."

            "Where?"  Taylor asked quickly, but as soon as she said it, she heard a 'click' and knew that they had hung up.  Whoever they were.  

            Taylor's head was spinning.  _Save Misara?_  She ran out into the living room, but Keisuke wasn't there.  On the couch was a note saying he had gone to do more research.  She sat down to calm herself and think.  Where would the portal be opening?  It was already 8:30…and if she couldn't find Keisuke…

            _Well,_ she thought, _I'll go by myself._  She rushed into her room and threw some extra clothes in a bag.  In the kitchen, she tossed a couple cans of pop and some apples into her bag as well.  She still wasn't sure what she would need.  On a whim, she tossed in some aspirin and a book.  _Not that I'll have time to be doing any reading…_

            She scribbled Keisuke a note, explaining what had happened and that she was going to try to look for the portal.  Actually she was going to look for him first, because he might have an idea where it would be.  She grabbed her coat from the post beside the door and locked it behind her.  As she stepped off the elevator and outside, she stopped, a little apprehensive.  Not only did she not know where to start looking, but she had never been out of the apartment by herself.  She turned right and headed down the street, her bag thrown over her shoulder.  

            After almost three hours of fruitless searching, she was on the verge of tears.  Where would Keisuke be?  He said he was researching those scrolls, so he was probably at a library, but which one?  Finally, she decided she was just going to have to ask someone.  Someone who looked like they could speak English, or understand her broken Japanese.

            There was a guy in a suit, walking down the street in front of her.  He looked like a businessman…perhaps he knew English.  She approached him.

            "Excuse me, sir…" she said.  He turned to look at her.  

            "Hai?"  That was yes, Taylor knew that.  She hurried on.  

            "Could you please tell me where the nearest library is?"

            He pointed down the street she had just turned from.  "About five streets that way."  He said in halting English.  

            "Thank you sir!" Taylor said, quickly bowing and heading off in the direction he had pointed.  Keisuke had taught her about bowing to people, and she was proud that she had actually remembered to do it.  She hurried as fast as she could, since it was almost midnight.  And suddenly, she was there.  In English (under the Japanese) a large sign declared that this was the National Library.  Something about it seemed familiar, but she couldn't remember what it was.  The building was dark, having been closed for hours, but there was a light in one window.  _Keisuke couldn't possibly be there, unless he had hidden himself in a room somewhere.  _And suddenly, she remembered.  _A room…a forbidden room…where Miaka found the book?!  That was it…that's where the portal is going to open!  _

She hurried around the building, trying every door and window.  If it came to it, she'd break in, but she hoped she didn't have to.  But no, chance had left a window cracked on the second floor.  But could she get up there?  The ledge going around the building looked wide enough to stand on from her perspective, and although she couldn't be sure, she had to try anyway.  She darted to the corner of the building and checked her watch by the moonlight.  11:44…she had a little time left.  She grabbed a hold of the rain gutter and hoisted herself upwards.  It wasn't very sturdy, but she didn't really have a choice.  After a few moments, she was up on the ledge on the second floor.  It was less than a foot wide, so she'd have to inch her way across.  With her back to the wall, she crept along, trying to hurry.  When she reached the window, she pushed it open and climbed inside.  Other than the moonlight shining in, the room was completely dark_.  Idiot_, she thought.  _A flashlight would have been useful._

By another lucky break, she found the door and made her way through the library.  Under another window, she checked her watch once more.  11:56.  Where was this room??

She looked up again and stifled a scream.  Standing in front of her was a man, glowing faintly in the moonlight.  He was covered in white clothing, even his hair was white, but Taylor didn't recognize him.  He turned and she followed him, everything around her blurring.  He led her to a room filled with shelves of books.  

_This was it…it had to be_, Taylor thought as she looked around the room.  When she turned back to the man, she discovered he had disappeared.  She checked her watch again.  11:59.  _One minute left…where did that guy go?_

Suddenly, she heard a noise behind her and she spun around.  The door she had come in had changed…it was bright red, and opened a crack.  The white man had his hand on the handle, and with a final glance at Taylor, he opened the door and walked through, closing it behind him.  

_Well, I guess this is it…_

Taylor reached for the handle.  It was freezing cold, but she held on to it and pulled open the door.  And suddenly, she couldn't see.  A bright light was blinding her, but it was warm.  She took a step forward, and walked through the door.


	2. Meetings

Taylor blinked a few times as the light disappeared. Her hand was still on the door handle, but when she looked around, she was in a completely different place. A large dining hall and a table with about twenty chairs loomed in front of her, the table set and covered with food. She turned around, half-expecting to see the library behind her through the doorway, but instead she found herself looking out onto an enormous, beautiful garden. The sun was just beginning to set, and she heard voices coming her way, more than likely heading for dinner. She froze, not sure of which way to go, then turned again and headed toward the table quickly. But before she had time to dive under it, as that was the only hiding place she could think off, two figures appeared in the doorway. One of them, dressed as a monk, was waving his staff around excitedly while he spoke. The other, a tall man with spiky black hair was listening and nodding. The monk looked up at the table and stopped in his tracks. The other man stopped as well when he noticed Taylor.   
  
"Go-Good evening." Taylor said, once again frozen in her tracks and not sure what to say.   
  
"Good evening." The monk said, while the tall man just nodded politely. "Are you lost?" he continued.  
  
"I think so..." she said, looking around. "You see, there was this door-" She stopped abruptly when another person walked through the door. She thought she recognized his flaming red hair from somewhere before, but....  
  
Apparently, he recognized her. When he noticed her, he took a step forward menacingly and growled.   
  
"Tasuki, do you know her?" The monk asked the red-headed man.   
  
"You bet I do." He growled, and reached for something on his back. "That's Misara's....friend." He spit the last word at her, and she winced. Now she remembered him. She had seen him in Kutou once, with Misara, and once again in Ciro, just before Yui had summoned Seiryu.   
  
"Put that away." The monk said sternly to Tasuki, who had pulled out a huge metal fan. He turned back to Taylor. "You know Misara?" He asked.   
  
She nodded quickly and tried to explain. "I was brought back here because someone told me I could save her."  
  
"How?" Tasuki interrupted, his fan still in his hands. Taylor shrugged helplessly, as three more people walked in the door. Taylor recognized one of them as the Emperor of Konan. Hotohori. He was the one Misara had died for, she thought, a little angrily, then chided herself. Misara wasn't dead.  
  
"That still doesn't explain why you're here." Tasuki moved forward again. "You tried to kill Misara." At the sound of that name, Hotohori looked up from his conversation and stopped walking. He took in the whole situation in an instant, then moved forward to cut off Tasuki.   
  
"You know Misara?" He asked.  
  
"She's the one that tried to kill her!" Tasuki shouted from behind the Emperor.   
  
"Shut up, idiot." The purple-haired man that had come in with Hotohori hit Tasuki over the head.   
  
Taylor tried to explain herself to Hotohori, telling him about the door, and the man, and how she was sent here because she could save Misara.  
  
The monk interrupted. "Taitskun said that when the time came to get Misara, the Seven Warriors would all be together. Maybe that's the reason we all showed up here yesterday, after what happened two years ago, no da."  
  
"Chichiri! I was on vacation!" Tasuki shouted, and pointed to Taylor. "She's not the reason I'm here!"  
  
But Taylor didn't hear him; she was staring at the monk. "Two years???" She said loudly. "It's been two years?!?"  
  
Chichiri nodded, giving her a puzzled look.  
  
"It's only been a few weeks!" She said to him. "Misara's only been gone-"  
  
"Two years." Hotohori finished. Taylor looked at him, but he was staring at the ground, his eyes dull.   
  
"Oh my lord..." Taylor whispered. She hadn't realized that time in this world moved much faster than the time in her own. "Oh Misara..." she sighed desperately. No one said a word for a moment, then Chichiri spoke again.  
  
"I can see why we're all here, now...but like Tasuki said, that still doesn't explain why you're here. I mean, I know the seven of us have to be together, but where do you fit in?"  
  
Taylor slumped her shoulders. "I don't know..." She looked up at Hotohori. "I just thought-if there was some way...to save Misara...I'd do anything..." Not only was she now unsure of why she was there at all, but apparently they weren't too thrilled with having her there. At least, Tasuki wasn't happy. And she didn't want to be a burden...but she did want to get Misara back, and she'd do anything she had to.   
  
Chichiri cut into her thoughts. "Maybe you should explain exactly how you got here, no da, and why."  
  
Taylor felt exasperated. "I did tell you! Someone called me and said that a portal was opening at midnight and if I went through it, I could save Misara!"   
  
"And there was a man there? Leading you?" Hotohori prompted. Taylor nodded. "What did he look like, exactly?"  
  
"I don't know." She said, irritated. "He was dressed in white and had white hair and...well...everything about him was white. And he was glowing too. Do you know who he is?"   
  
Chichiri hesitated, as though he had an idea, but he didn't voice it and instead shook his head.   
  
"I don't think this really matters." The man with the purple hair spoke up. "I think we need to focus on how to get Misara back."  
  
"How would we do that?" Tasuki asked, looking at Chichiri.  
  
Chichiri shrugged. "We'd have to go ask Taitskun, no da. She'll tell us."   
  
"Can we eat first?" The one with purple hair spoke up again, moving toward the table. He motioned to Taylor. "Sit down, uh..."   
  
"Taylor." She said. The rest of them sat down and were starting their meal when the door opened again, and the last of the Seven Warriors of Suzaku walked through it. Taylor saw him and gasped.  
  
"Taka?"  
  
  
Hi everyone! Sorry that chapter was so short and so long in coming, but the Seniors at my HS have to give "Senior Exhibitions" and I'm so busy with mine that I barely have time for anything else! If you're wondering where I'm going with this sequel, I have no idea either. And I don't know who this 'white man' is, but I guess we'll all find out pretty soon, eh? And of course you know this is going to turn out to be one of those "love stories", right? Misara and Hotohori reunited? Or does she turn to Tasuki instead? Will Taylor fall in love with Mitsukake or Nuriko or Chichiri or even *gasp* Chiriko? Don't forget folks, it's two years later! And eventually, you know they'll meet up with the Seiryu Seven...including Nakago, who I haven't managed to kill off yet in an interesting way like I wanted. Got any ideas for that? Let me know if ya'll liked it, and I'll keep going! Thanks for reading! ^_^ 


	3. The First Journey

With the moonlight shining faintly through her windows, Taylor lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She hadn't been able to fall asleep. So many things had happened, and she was more confused than ever. She was desperate to get Misara back, she was afraid that some of the Suzaku Warriors didn't quite trust her yet, and she didn't know why she was here at all. 

During dinner, Chichiri had explained that he couldn't do anything without Misara's scroll, which was in Taylor's world. Their only choice was to travel to Mount Taikyoku, where apparently a deity lived. Chichiri said that this deity, Taitskun, would explain everything and tell them what they needed to do. 

So they had agreed to travel together to this mountain, and Hotohori, apparently anxious to see Misara, insisted that they leave the following morning at dawn. The trip would take a few days, he told Taylor, but they would take shortcuts and not stop too often. As eager as Taylor was to see Misara as well, she was worried about the trip. She was afraid of that red-headed warrior, Tasuki. She knew he didn't trust her, and she didn't trust him either. He had sat through dinner giving her nasty glares until Nuriko, the man with purple hair, had hit him again. Then Tasuki had completely ignored Taylor, and after they had discussed the upcoming journey, he stalked off to his room. 

Taylor's brow furrowed in anger. He didn't have any right to treat her like that, like it was her fault Misara had been taken away. And why should he be that angry, anyway? It wasn't like he and Misara had loved each other. She was in love with Hotohori, so what was the deal? Then it struck her, and she smiled a little in the darkness. She was beginning to see how this love triangle worked. She just wondered what Misara's feelings were, although it was rather obvious. She did sacrifice herself, twice in fact, for Hotohori. And Taylor had to admit that he was very kind and handsome. 

But he had a very sad look to his eyes. While Taylor and Misara had been in Tokyo together, before she had gone away, she had mentioned something about a wife. No one had said a word about this wife at dinner, and Taylor assumed that she would have been eating with Hotohori. So where was she? 

But the thing that confused her the most was Tamahome. When he had walked in the door, he had no idea who she was or why she was calling him Taka, and she couldn't explain it to any of them. That there was another Tamahome in her world? _Yeah right_, Taylor thought. _Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were the man that Miaka spends every waking moment with back in my world. You do look an awful lot alike._ She could just picture their reactions, especially Tasuki's. Her eyebrows furrowed again. She just couldn't get over how irritating he was. Fortunately, her silent cursing tired her out, and she slowly fell asleep. 

A rude pounding on her door yanked Taylor out of her sleep. Then the door opened and Taylor, whose face had been buried in her pillow, opened one eye to see who the intruder was. It was Tasuki, and he looked as though he had just woken up as well. 

"We're leaving soon, so get ready to go." He muttered gruffly, then turned on his heel and loudly closed the door behind him as he left. Taylor stuck out her tongue at the door, then pulled herself out of bed. She didn't really have anything to pack, since most of her belongings were in her bag and she hadn't taken them out yet. She pulled off her pajamas and was about to put on the clothes she had worn yesterday when the door suddenly opened again and Nuriko walked in. 

"Hey!" Taylor screeched loudly while she desperately tried to hide herself. 

"Sorry!" Nuriko cried, dropping the clothes he was carrying to cover his eyes. 

"What do you want?!" Taylor asked angrily, having to settle for the blanket from her bed. 

"I just came in to give you these traveling clothes," Nuriko whimpered, his hands still over his eyes. "Hotohori ordered them to be given to you." He nudged the once-folded clothing, now a heap on the floor, toward Taylor with his foot. 

Taylor snatched them up and looked at the pieces. "You can open your eyes now, Nuriko." She said, hastily checking that the blanket was in place. "I'm afraid I don't really understand these clothes. Could you help me out?"

Ten minutes later, the duo emerged from Taylor's room. Taylor was dressed (a little awkwardly, but dressed) and Nuriko was carrying Taylor's backpack. Taylor had insisted that she could carry it, but Nuriko had ignored her and shouldered it. As they stepped out of the room, Taylor saw that it was still dark, but it was slowly getting lighter. Nuriko led the way to the gate of the palace, where seven horses and plenty of sleepy Suzaku warriors were getting ready to leave. The only one who looked alert was Hotohori, who on closer inspection, looked anxious and strained. He probably hadn't slept at all, Taylor thought vaguely before turning back to Nuriko.

"You'll be riding with me," Nuriko yawned, attaching Taylor's backpack to the side of the horse. 

Before long, with much prodding from Hotohori, the warriors and Taylor set off in the early morning light. They hadn't traveled far before Taylor started to ache from riding. They weren't riding very slow, she had noticed, and Hotohori up in front seemed to want to go even faster. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, they stopped for lunch. 

Taylor was starving, she hadn't eaten breakfast, and she was so sick of riding that she practically jumped off the horse before Nuriko could reach up to help her. 

After the short lunch, made even shorter by Hotohori's insistence that they go, Taylor reluctantly climbed back onto the horse and the group took off once more. 

They were not allowed dinner. 

Because of the fast riding and the lack of dinner, the group was looking mutinous. Well, most of them. Tamahome and Tasuki were glaring ahead at *nothing* in particular, and Taylor kept hearing random mutterings from Nuriko behind her. Chichiri just looked worried, and the other two warriors, Mitsukake and Chiriko, didn't have any verbal complaints, whatever their faces might have given away. Hotohori, in the lead as usual, was oblivious to all of it and more determined than ever to reach the mountain by nightfall. 

It was just starting to get dark, and Nuriko whispered to Taylor that they should stop and make camp before it got really dark. He voiced this to Hotohori, who didn't answer right away. Nuriko made an indistinct noise under his breath, just before Hotohori shouted back. 

"I can see the mountain up ahead! We're almost there." 

Nuriko looked and groaned. Apparently, everyone else felt the same way. Even Taylor could tell the it was still pretty far off. 

"Ah, your highness, we're not going to be able to find anything in the dark, no da." Chichiri spoke up. "Why don't we wait until morning?"

After a few moments, Hotohori reluctantly reined his horse and stopped. Everyone else stopped quickly, waiting for Hotohori to make his decision. He looked up at all their weary (and some angry) faces, and quickly said, "Yes, I think we'd better find a spot to camp for the night." 

The night passed uneventfully, as everyone was too exhausted to do anything other than go straight to sleep. Hotohori stayed awake, keeping watch. 

The next morning, however, Nuriko was the one keeping watch when Taylor was prodded awake. Taylor had a suspicion that Nuriko had forced Hotohori to finally get some sleep. But this morning, he was wide awake and ready to leave before the rest of them were finished with breakfast. He was trying to hurry them along, and they did so reluctantly. 

"She's waited two years, she can wait five more minutes." Tasuki muttered under his breath. Taylor silently agreed with him, but Hotohori heard it as well. He didn't say anything more or try to hurry them along until they were all on their horses and heading toward the mountain. 

Before the morning was half over, they were climbing (very slowly) up the mountain. The paths apparently hadn't been used in years, and they were covered in brush, stones and other debris. As the group picked their way up the paths, Taylor could sense Nuriko's frustration, and once in a while, Tasuki would curse behind them. He wasn't having good luck with his horse, who seemed more interested in eating than following the group. 

Lunchtime came and went, but they didn't stop to eat. The Suzaku warriors didn't seem too upset over this, which Taylor didn't understand. Everyone looked confused and frustrated as they climbed higher and higher. The paths started to get narrow, and eventually they had to go in single file. The afternoon dragged on, and the sun beat down heavily on the group. 

"We should have found it by now." Nuriko spoke up. Chichiri half turned on his horse ahead of them and agreed. He looked confused and a little frightened. 

"Taitskun's place is protected by magic." Chichiri explained to Taylor. "No one with evil intent can find it, but we should have been there hours ago, no da." He paused. "I do not understand." He added, more to himself than to Taylor. 

The sun was starting to set and Taylor was worried. Suddenly, the ground beneath them turned from rocky path to a wide, smooth trail. Hotohori gave a shout and galloped forward, the others following quickly. Up ahead, Taylor could see the outline of a large building in the setting sunlight. Once they had reached it, she could see it better. Hotohori had stopped his horse in front of it, a look of utter disbelief on his face. The others reined their horses beside him and stared. 

The building was completely ruined. The door hung loosely on its hinge, the windows were smashed and the columns once holding it up were in pieces on the ground. 


	4. Old Friends

Chapter Four  
  
"This is really bad." Nuriko kept repeating as the Suzaku warriors picked their way through the rubble. Taylor followed quietly and didn't speak. The mess was terrible. It looked as though the building had been destroyed from the inside, and everything was half-submerged in a brackish- colored water. Somewhere toward the north end of the building, Mitsukake had unearthed a large mirror, smashed and broken. When Chichiri had seen that, he pulled off his mask (only later did Taylor realize that it was a mask) and his jaw was set in anger.  
  
No one knew what to do. The sun had almost set and they needed a place to camp. Tasuki mentioned this aloud, but Chichiri shook his head.  
  
"We can't camp near here tonight." He said quietly. "This place feels strange to me.I don't think sleeping near here would be a good idea."  
  
Hotohori nodded grimly. "Then we should head back down the mountain now. We can investigate further tomorrow." He motioned for them to go, then saddled his horse. They followed him back down the mountain, looking for a place to sleep that night.  
  
Surprisingly, they reached the bottom in less than an hour, and set up camp at the foot of the mountain. They ate their dinner quietly, and no one spoke for a long time. Even Tasuki looked serious. Taylor wasn't remotely tired, and it looked like no one else was either. Something bad had happened. They all knew it, and no one knew what to do next. Hotohori looked worse than anyone else, looking pale and strained, and Taylor remembered what he had lost.  
  
She was worried too. What had happened up there? Did this mean they couldn't get Misara back? What would happen next? She wanted nothing more than to get Misara back, and now it didn't look like there was a way.  
  
Eventually they all fell asleep, except for Hotohori. Just before Taylor closed her eyes, she saw him sitting by the fire, clutching a chain. Hanging from the chain was a heavy-looking ring. It looked familiar to Taylor, but in the firelight she wasn't sure.  
  
The next morning, Taylor woke up to sunlight shining fully in her face. She opened her eyes slowly and realized that it was late in the morning. Nuriko was snoozing next to her, but the other warriors were nowhere to be found. Panicking, Taylor shook Nuriko awake.  
  
"What-?" Nuriko sputtered as he opened his eyes. "What's the big idea?"  
  
"Everyone's gone!" Taylor cried.  
  
Nuriko groaned and turned over. "They went back to the mountain to look around. Hotohori told me to let you sleep, so I decided to go back to sleep as well."  
  
He yawned and closed his eyes again, apparently wanted to sleep some more. After a moment, Taylor got up and headed over to the smoldering fire. There were some water jugs around it, and she took a long drink. As she set down the jug, she glanced at her watch to see what time it was and almost spit out the last of the water in her mouth. Her watch had stopped working.  
  
"I just got the battery changed too..." she muttered to herself. "Figures."  
  
Helping herself to some breakfast, Taylor took a good look around. They had camped in some kind of clearing, far enough from the main road so they wouldn't be seen. As she sat there, she grew upset, feeling that she was in the way.  
  
It was much later in the day, almost the end of the afternoon by Taylor's reckoning, when the rest of the Suzaku warriors returned, looking even more dejected than the previous night. Taylor was too afraid to ask what they had found, but Nuriko asked for her.  
  
It turned out that not all of the building had been destroyed. There was most of one room still standing in the very back, but there had been no trace of Taitskun or her servants. Absolutely none, no trace of bodies or even shreds of clothing, which the warriors of Suzaku seemed to find very strange. They had no clues as to who had done it, and Chichiri had seemed very adamant that whoever had done it had taken Taitskun as well, which meant that they were very powerful.  
  
So a very depressed and tense group headed back to the palace, with no clues as to how to get Misara back. They were so depressed that they didn't even try to hurry, so they had to camp for another night a few miles outside the city.  
  
When they finally arrived back at the palace, they were dismounting when they all heard a shrill, familiar voice.  
  
"Hotohoriiiii! Nuriko! Tasuki!" The voice continued to shout out their names until they discovered the source.  
  
"Miaka!" Nuriko cried.  
  
Miaka was running down the stairs to their left, and threw her arms around Nuriko.  
  
"How-how did you get here?" Tasuki stammered.  
  
"Who cares?" Miaka cried gleefully. "I brought you a present!" She pulled out Misara's scroll, which had been given to Misara by Taitskun when she became the Goddess of the Sky. Miaka handed it to Chichiri. "I had a feeling you would need it." She gave him a look and winked, then looked around at them all. She was about to say something else when Tamahome stepped out in front of the group. Miaka gaped at him, a look on her face that no one knew quite how to read.  
  
"Taka?" She said hesitantly.  
  
"Miaka, it's me. Tamahome." He said sternly. "I'm not Taka, I'm Tamahome." He added, a little desperately.  
  
"But." Miaka trailed off. She looked at him for another minute, and no one spoke. "Alright." She said finally. "Tamahome." He moved forward to embrace her, and as he did, she stiffened visibly, but Tamahome either didn't notice or didn't care.  
  
After another moment of awkward silence, Nuriko clapped his hands together. "Alright! Who's hungry?"  
  
To no one's surprise, the first to answer was Miaka.  
  
Dinner was more of an exhibition than anything, as they all watched Miaka shovel food into her mouth.  
  
"I had forgotten how disgusting that was." Tasuki muttered, and Nuriko hit him. At the sight of Miaka eating, most of them had lost their appetites, and were just picking at their food. Chichiri hadn't touched his plate, and was in fact reading Misara's scroll and muttering to himself.  
  
Finally dinner (or whatever you could call it) was over, and they retired to a different room to sit and discuss the scroll.  
  
"Basically," he began, "we have to do a lot of things to get Misara back. First of all, we need to go back to Taitskun's palace and find her mirror. Then." here he paused, and looked at Taylor. "We have to go to Kutou." Taylor's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. Hotohori looked at her, then turned back to Chichiri, who had kept on talking. "Nakago has something of Misara's that we need to get back, but the scroll doesn't say what it is." He turned to Taylor. "Do you have any idea what he could have?"  
  
Taylor shrugged and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure it's not her ring.last I knew, she had that. I can't think of what else he could have. Where's her violin?"  
  
"In her room." Hotohori said stiffly. "I didn't want to move it."  
  
"How are we supposed to get anything from Nakago anyway?" Tamahome said a little angrily. "Who cares what it is?"  
  
"We could sneak in and steal it, couldn't we?" Nuriko suggested.  
  
"We might have to." Chichiri sighed. "Only it would be much easier if we knew what we were stealing."  
  
"A few of us could go back to Taitskun's palace and get the mirror while someone else went to Kutou." Chiriko piped up. "The giant mirror, I presume?" Chichiri nodded. "We'll need something to carry it on then. A cart, or something."  
  
"I will arrange that. The ones that are going can leave tomorrow morning." Hotohori replied. He exited the room to give the orders.  
  
"Chichiri?" Taylor asked. "What else do we have to do?"  
  
Chichiri rolled up the scroll. "We can't do anything else until we have those two items." He didn't look at anyone, concentrating solely on the scroll, obviously hiding something. He stood up. "We should all get a good night's sleep. Who's going to get the mirror tomorrow?"  
  
Mitsukake stood. "I will go."  
  
Tamahome and Miaka nodded. "We'll go with him." Miaka said.  
  
"I guess I have to go too." Nuriko yawned. "Someone has to lift that thing, and it will probably be me."  
  
Chichiri looked at Taylor. "No way." She said, shaking her head. "I'm going to Kutou with you. You need me."  
  
Chichiri sighed. "Alright." He moved toward the door. "I'm going to rest for a while." As soon as he left, Taylor caught Nuriko's eye. Nuriko shrugged.  
  
Taylor stood. "Me too. See you in the morning." Nuriko followed her out into the hallway. Chichiri was nowhere to be seen.  
  
As the two of them headed down the hallway, Nuriko whispered to Taylor. "Did you get the feeling he wasn't telling us something?" 


End file.
